Monday, March 10, 2014

Can't Have It All (Respondent)

One of the First Readers expressed surprise that improved
quality of life—at least with regard to energy intake—can simultaneously lead
to an increased risk of cancer.

It is, without a doubt, counterintuitive to think having
access to more food and nutrients can also have negative consequences for the
human body. Although, this fact quite perfectly gets at the heart of what
evolution is all about. In a sense, the logic of “no good deed goes unpunished”
applies here: for every good adaptation, there is always cost. In the case of
the relationship between energy intake and reproductive cancers, it is that
more energy is being funneled into pumping up gonadal hormones levels that,
down the line, may increase risk of developing diseases such as breast and
ovarian cancer.

Although the Jasienska article didn’t address it directly
with data, it is likely that the so-called “secular trend” (the decrease in age
at first menarche in girls living in industrialized nations) is also feeding
into the trend toward an increased risk of reproductive cancers. The culprit,
however, still seems to be an increase in energy intake coupled with a rise in rates
of physical inactivity.

Trying to find the best lifestyle to decrease one’s risk for
these sorts of health issues may often seem as though you’re making the best of
a bad situation. But if there’s anything we can learn from the impartial
process of evolution, it’s the tradeoffs are just a fact of life.